Mountainstyle

It looks like August up there already. Things are pretty melted out, plenty of crevasses to navigate around (anticipate taking longer to summit). Everyone left Schurman between 10-10:30 PM for the summit bid. Snowbridges are pretty unstable. We were up on the Emmons July 19-20. A climber on a rope team ahead of us punched through a crevasse in the corridor, was injured (broken leg), spent the night, and required a helo rescuse the next morning. Exercise plenty of caution this time of the year. The attached picture is of Interglacier, which is normally under much more snow. The red line is the route most folks (including RMI teams) were taking up/down, the blue line is the one we took. I was told that a week prior to this picture, you could glissade down most of interglacier. Things are melting quickly! Good luck.

Lee, Beautiful description. I was so happy to hear from Judah and find out he had finally conquered Yocum. We have eyed it for years. Judah is a college friend, we have climbed together on a number of occasions and enjoyed some great adventures. He called me the day after the climb to relay the news (because he knew I'd understand). Breath-taking writing too. Congrats to you both! -Sarah

Oops.... knuckle head alert. I saw this post on craigslist. Hope it wasn't your ice axe this guy walked off with: http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/spo/841952508.html I stole somebody's Ice Axe on camp Muir this sat (camp Muir, Mt. Ranier) Reply to: sale-841952508@craigslist.org [?] Date: 2008-09-15, 1:35PM PD Ok i did not steal it, but in a mixup with all the ice axes, my rented axe from feathered friends walked off with somebody else, while exactly same one walked off with me. Now I need to find an owner so perhaps he can return my rented one, and I will gladly give him his. Max 253-973-3411

Looks awesome Kevin. Climbing Adams this weekend if you want to go. Not as ambitious as Stuart, but you are welcome to come. Leaving Friday after work. Call me if you are interested.

I started my M.S. so now I have school too, sucks. I am hoping I can swing something next weekend. It depends on how much reading I get done. Thanks for the cold warning.

Any updates on Fires? Planning on heading up this weekend. Kevino, you around? I think you are in town all weekend. We are leaving Tacoma tonight after work.

Well said.

Check the thread/TR about the black spider route on hood. There was a post there that said the berg on Sunshine was fully open and not passable, they got to 10,000 feet and turned around. I just spent 4 days on the N. side of Hood. Came off last Friday the 25th. The roads to Cloud Cap and Tilly Jane are both open (thanks for the clearing Jerk). Its looking sparse out there. Lots of open crevasses, lots of rock fall. The elliot drainage is also not fun to cross down low. Good luck if you go. I wouldn't be overly optimistic about a summit on Sunshine this late in the season. The good news, I didn't see another soul except for my climbing partner for 4 days... a rare situation on Hood! Have fun though.

Aren't all of us aware of the risks associated with climbing? Don't we all take those risks to some extent? Isn't that part of the "unexplained" that unites us as climbers? Where would we be as a climbing community if we didn't take risks? Sure a helmet would have been my choice on that route. But who knows if a helmet would have made a difference in this situation? We can only speculate. Climbing is about a series of choices, risks, suffering, elations, failures, and great personal successes that some will never experience or know. What we can realize is that this man spent his life helping others and died tragically, but doing something he loved. May his family find peace (and can the media bug off?)

That's really terrible. I was out on the N side tues-Fri and didn't see another soul until we crossed the elliot drainage, and we saw people hiking on the moraine. It's definitely a dangerous time of year to be climbing, I am very sorry for his family and son. The only bit of hope in it all, he was out in the mountains doing something he loved. RIP

Has anyone heard anymore about the climber that was killed on Hood this weekend? 55 year old man from Eugene, sad. Link: http://www.katu.com/news/local/25982069.html Things were definitely moving around up there this week. I heard he was descending cooper spur.

We survived. Words to the wise, Cathedral Ridge (like Oregon High says) is best climbed when covered in snow. Lot's of choss. Definitely knew I was in the cascades. Everything is open on the N. side. Didn't see anyone for four days. Left from Cloud Cap on Tuesday. The first challenge was crossing the Elliot drainage. There was massive flood damage this winter. Someone had fixed ropes on either side of the crossing, but it was still hairy. I'll try and post some pics tomorrow. All and all it was a good four days in the mountains.

I want to hear about Yocum in the summer? Sounds crazy and fun. I've tried to get her two winters in a row, but encountered unfavorable weather. Going to be speding 4 days up on Hood this next week. Approaching from cloud cap, moving up cathedral ridge, camping at the base of the queens chair, scouting yocum and desceding cooper spur. Should be a good time. Anybody been up there recently? I live in Tacoma, but I've heard visability is pretty bad with all the smoke for the CA wildfires?

Thanks for sharing. Makes us all stop and think about our climbing practices and how easy it is to get over-confident in our abilities when we've been up a mountain several times, with a great and trust worthy partner. Glad you both made it back safely and both still love the mountains!

So you guys made it? Thanks for the invite, if you go again please call and I won't be such a puss this time.

Sent a PM. Considering driving from Tacoma to Vantage tomorrow if anyone wants a ride.

So, what's a woman to do? She can either date her climbing partner (this can be good or bad). I think it's great when you can get out with a SO and climb together. It can also make for some great stories/fights...but making up activities are always fun. Personally I'd rather not have the drama. Men are just as guilty as women when it comes to this! But what happens when he can't go on a trip and you go out with other male climbers? Should I have to put up with pouting when I go out climbing with the guys? Take a winter climb, I did at the end of Dec. It was a one female (me) to three guys ratio! My S.O. had to work and couldn't get away. I don't think he was thrilled about the situation, but often I find myself in that place. Being the only female in a group of male climbers. I'd love to meet more women who climbed. On the other hand... I can see his point. I don't think I'd "love it" if he was out bivying in rotten weather with three women. Fellow climbers, what is your take on this situation? Anyone else ever been in a spot like this?

I have an old-ass nokia 6263i. It isn't a flip-phone. It's been dropped (a lot), taken out on many an alpine climb, gotten wet and it still works. It got seriously wet once but not submerged, it took a couple of days to dry out and everything worked fine after that. The battey life is pretty good, as long as you turn it off when not in use. I have had it last up to four days in the mountains.

"2008 Mugs Stump Award Winners: Ryan Johnson, Mendenhall Towers, Alaska; with Sam Magro, Kyler Pallister, Erik Pallister, and Mike Thompson. The climbers seek 800- to 1,000-meter ice and mixed lines on the north walls of these seldom-visited peaks, in the Coastal Range of southeast Alaska" Good luck out there Ryan! I want to hear all about the epic when you return (over a pint of course)

Tony and Robin, I hate to put a damper on your Rainier trip, but it isn't the kind of mtn you can just pick a date and go for it. Tony, you sound like you are in a better position, as you are local and can wait for a weather window. In general, winter mountaineering ends up being "a lot of attempts." I had two climbing partners fly in from Boston for a winter attempt just before christmas. Avy conditions were high, we ended up heading to Hood, even though we had planned on trying for Gib Ledges. No summit on Hood either, climbed and desceded in whiteout conditons. But we were very comfortable with a descent via map, compass, and altimeter. Best of luck and becareful!

M.T. might be a bit elitist, but I certainly like his philosophy behind Gym Jones: "We train in preparation for sport-specific tests or work-related challenges, we do not train for the sake of it or because conditioning is our sport or hobby. We don't do this because we want to look a certain way or to lose weight (these are consequences). We suffer during training to improve ourselves physically and psychologically and we measure those improvements on mountains, on frozen waterfalls, in burning buildings, facing cunning adversaries, on the battlefield, on the mat and in the cage. Because these tests occur outside the gym we don't compete in the gym, we work hard, and we work together to make the sum greater than its individual parts. Cheating here won't help us get where we are going so we enforce all quality all of the time." -Mark Twight

Wow, that made my day.

Shit, if you can't have the little beasts naturally, why have 'em at all. There is no way the "sperm donor" should be legally responsible for the progeny of conception via artificial insemination. It would be different if the two people were in a relationship and agreed to have children together via artificial means.

A bottle of Chimay blue label after a day of rock climbing. A mandatory can of rainier on said summit (it's a bit hard to drink that beast at 6 am--but it can be done). Or mountain margaritas (snow, cheap tequila (gotta uphold the climbing dirtbag status), and lemon koolaide powder), mmm. The Deschutes Brewery lets you take your empty gallon jug of water you sucked down in the Smith heat, and fill it with delecious beer to make the perfect dirtbag growler.

Well, this morning, after drinking way too much red wine, running a 5K and jumping in Lake Washington seemed to do it. But it was a temporary cure. If I hadn't already paid for the race, my lazy ass would have gone back to bed and slept the morning away. Happy New Year by the way! But, if I can manage, the drunk munchies before I fall asleep always helps. And if I wake up early in the morning to go pee, I usually drink a glass or two of water, eat a slice of bread, take two advil and one tums. Then it is back to bed.